Pump



Oct- 30, 1923.

J- W. GURLEY RAZAIW PUMP Filed Feb. e,

WN num Patented Oct. 30, 1923.

UNITED STATES JOHN W. GURLEY. OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

PUMP.

Application led February 6, 1922. lSerialllo. 584,444.

Toallwkomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W.f-GURLEY, a citizen f the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of. Indiana, have invented a new and useful Pump, of whichthe following is a specification.

It is the object of my invention to improve the operation of rotary pumps; and of rotary fluid-pressure motors, for use as which my device is equally adapted. More specifically, the object is to produce a rotary pump of the type in which a rotor mounted eccentrically in a cylindrical casing is provided with a plurality of retractible casingengaging parts, which can travel free of one another in a smooth path and remain always in contact with the inner surface of the casing and which will each be positively pushed outward by the pushing inward of its oppositevpart if-for-any reason it fails to move outward otherwise; and, in addition, to provide retractible blades with special shoes which enable them to conform closely to the inner vsurface of the casing in their movements.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention; Fig. 1 is an end view of a pump embodying my invention, with its driving motor; Fig. 2 is a View transverse to the axis in the line of the discharge pipe, with part of the pump broken' away to show the internal construction; Fi 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fim 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, with the rotor in one position; Fig. 5 is a fragmental view similar to Fig. 4, but with the rotor in another position; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the rotor, kwith the blades removed.

The pump has a casing formed of a circular cylindrical shell 10 and two end plates 11, the end lplates being provided with suitable bearings 12 for the shaft 13 of the rotor 14. Thefrotor shaft 13 may be provided with any suitable driving means, such as a pulley l5 connectible b a belt 16 to a pulley 17 on the shaft of an e ectric motor 18. The bearings 12 are so arranged that the axis of the shaft 13' is eccentric with respect to the inner surface 19 of the shell 10, as is clear from -F igs. 4 and 5, with the body of the rotor 14 tangent or nearly tangent to such surface 19 at one point only and spaced from such surface throu hout the remainder of the circumference. he body of the rotor 14 substantially tits between the end plates 11,

asis clear from Fig. 2. This rotor bod 14 is provided with. a plurality of pairs .ofyop posite longitudinal slots 20, two pairs or four slots being-shown; 'and in each of these slots 20 is mounted a blade 21 which lits in said slot so as to be slidable in and outwith respect to the shaft 13. The blades 21 also 'preferably fit between the end plates 11.

The movement of o posite blades toward each other is limited y pins 22 which pli-oject transversely through the'shaft 13 from the bottom of the slots 20 into the 'opposite slots and lare freely slidable along their own axes. With this arrangement, opposite blades cannot a preach each other too closely, because w en one blade 21 is pushed ,inward during the rotation of the rotor it acts upon the associated pins 22 and positively pushes outward the opposite blade 21 if for any reason such opposite blade tends to remain in. The pins 22 may be free from their associated blades, so that they do not interfere with the free outward movement of such blades beyond the positions to which` *0 they are pushed by the pins 22, with the pins 22 o such length that they touch the bottoms of both associated blades 22 when the latter'are closest together, as the vertical blades 21 are shown in Fig. 5; but preferabrlly the are fastened to such blades.

he b ades 21 do not directly engage the surface 19, as because of the aforesaid eccentricity of the surface 19 with respect to the rotor the blades themselves must rock slightly with respect to such surface as the rotor rotates, so that the' contact obtained if the blades directly engage such surface is not the best. To make a surface contact, therefore, I provide each blade 21 with a contact shoe 23 at its outer edge, which contact shoe then directly engages the surface 19. This contact shoe consists of a bar of the length of the blade 21, havinga curved outer surface bearing against and of the same curvature as the surface 19, so that a good seating of the contact shoe against the' surface 19 is obtained. The Contact shoe has an inner convex surface, forming a se ment of a cylinder, resting in a corresponding cylindrlcal concave surface 24 in the outer edge of the blade 21. The common axis of the surface 24 and of the engaging surface of the shoe 23 preferably lies substantially on the surface 19, or close thereto; and if it is not on such surface I prefer that such axis be radially outward beyond such surface 19.` This makes a construction in which the shoe 23 need not pro'ect circumferentially be ond the sidesur aces of the blade 21, so t at it can recede into the slot with the blade, as shown at the right in Fig. 5, while still making a structure in which the shoe is stable in its seating and will swing properly from side to side without dropping out as the rotor rotates.

It is only necessary that opposite shoes 4 be freer of eachother for outward movement,

and it is neither necessary nor desirable that Y theopposite blades 21, which do not engage .they surface 19, be free from the pi-ns 22;

inseparable fromsuch pins.

.though it is not-essential that the blades be Indeed, with the contact shoes, the'blades 2l, evenif sep arablefrom the pins 22,.-remain incontact withtheendsof such pins under many conditions; 'by reason ofl the liuid pressure against the surfaces 24 of such blades due to thev back pressure of the fluid being pumped, and perhaps .for ,other reasons; atthe "same time, the contact shoes 23 are held by the same fluid pressure, as well as by'centrifugal force, in lfirm seating engagement with the surface 1 9 of the shell,vand4 at certain pointsmove somewhatoutward and slightly circumferentially backward with rela-tion to the blades 21 as is illustrated in the lefthand blade of Fig. 5. This always takes place if the blades 21 .are fastened to the pins 22,' as they may be and preferably are; and it-takes; place under certain conditions of pressure and speed even if the blades are free from the pins 22, In either case, the opposite shoes which engage the surface 19 .are free from each other so that they move outward independently, but are associated througl. the pins 22 and their associated blades so that such shell-engaging parts can not approach too closely together. As the rotor rotates, the distance between two opposite shoes varies, because they and their associated blades are on -a diametral plane of the rotor, and when they-,are in one position (horizontal in Fig. 5) they are on a diameter of the circular-cylindrical shell, while in allv other posi-tions they are on a chord of such circular-cylindrical shell, which chord is the shortest in the vertical position-shown .in Fig, 5, when the bladesl and shoes are this. When the contact shoes 23 doumovc outward and backward with relation to their bladesv 21 as stated, they not only remainv 1n vcontact with the surface 19 throughout their outer surfaces,vbut also remain in contact with at least a line'on the surfaces 24 of their associated blades, so that a tight seal the inlet conduit and pass circumferentially around the shell inside thereof for only half a revolution, and leave tangentially by the loutlet conduit, with no material change .of direction save during such half revolution within the shell. p The inlet and exhaust conduits are each elongated axially of the shell and narrowed circumferentially of the shell, asis clear from Figs. 3 and 4, so that they provide an oval opening into the shell;

` and this oval form is gradually tapered into a circular form for receiving the supply and discharge lpipes 27, and 28, asis also clear from F igs. 3 and 4. Thisvmakes -a streamline passage with a minimum of frictional resistance and a minimum of speed change for the fluid flow.

Inoperation, the rotor 14 is driven in the direction of the arrow, as by the motor 18. As therotor rotates, the several pump chambers formed by the retractible blades 21 and between the surface 19 and the outer surface of they rotor 14 are first enlarged from a minimum to a maximum .and then decreased insize. from a maximum to a minimum, being in communication with the intake con-I duit 25while enlarging and with the exhaust conduit 26 while diminishing in size; so that fluid is drawn. in throughthe supply pipe 27 and inlet conduit`25 into the pump shell 10 in the successive chambers -and then discharged through the outlet conduit 26 and dischargepipe 28. Because of the close lit which is maintained within the inner surface 19 by the shoes 23, and of the positive outforcing tendency of the pins 22 on the outwardly moving blades if lfor any reason they fail Ito move, there is yvery little leakage, and both at high suction and a high pressure are obtained. The leakage loss is further reduced by the fact Vthat the blades 21 fit the slots 2O closely, and that oppositeslots 20 are connected only by the small holes which receive and are substantially filled by -the pins 22. By reason of the stream-line passage'provided, with onlya, single halfturn in it for the fiuid, the efiiciency of the pump is high.

I have described my device as a pump; but it is capable of eliicient use, without change, a's a rotary fluid-pressure motor. My claimsl are intended to cover the actual device, regardless the use to which it is p I claim as my invention:

l. A rotary pump, comprising a c1rcularcylindrical shell, a rotor body mounted eccentrically in said shell and havinga plurality of pairs of diametrically opposite longitudinal slots in its surface, bla-des mounted in said slots for radial sliding therein, opposite blades having means for holding them at least a predetermined distance apart, said blades being provided with longitudinal grooves in their outer edges, wearing shoes pivotally mounted on the outer edges of the blades in said grooves and variably bodily separable from their associated groove surfaces and circumferentially shiftable relatively to them to maintain partial contact` as the distance between opposite wearing shoes varies during the rotation of the rotor; so that uid pressure may act between said wearing shoes and blades to seat the wearing shoes against the shell.

2. A rotary pump, comprisinga cylindrical shell, a rotor body mounted eccentrlcally in said shell and having a plurality of longitudinal slots in its surface, blades mounted in said slots for radial sliding therein, said blades being provided with longitudinal grooves in their outer edges, wearing shoes pivotally mounted on the outer edges of the blades in said grooves and variably bodily separable from their associated groove surfaces and circumferentially shiftable relatively to them to maintain partial contact, and means for forcing said blades outward during certain parts of the rotation of the rotor while still permitting the separation of the wearing shoes from and their relative circumferential shifting in said grooves so that the wearing shoes will seat themselves against the inner surface of the shell by the action of centrifugal vforce and bly the action of fluid pressure lbetween the s oes and the groove surfaces of the blades. 3. The combination set forth in claim 2 wherein the groove-engaging surface of each shoe is a cylindrical segment of a radius at least as great as the maximum distance of said surface from the other side of the shoe.

4. A rotary pump, comprising a cylindrical shell, a rotor body mounted eccentrically in said shell and havin a plurality of pairs of diametrically opposite longitudinal slots in its surface, blades mounted in said slots for radial -sliding therein, opposite blades having means for holding them at least a predetermined distance apart, said blades being provided with longitudinal grooves in their outer edges, wearing shoes pivotally mounted on the outer edges of said blades in said grooves, said wearing shoes being bodily separable from their associated groove ysurfaces and circumferentially shiftable relatively thereto to maintain partial contact, and the shape of the inner surface of said cylindrical shell beingl such, that the distance between the lines where a diametral plane of the rotor intersects saidl ,inner shell-surface varies as such plane rota-tes so that there will be a variable separation and circumferential shifting between each shoe and its associated groove as the rotor rotates and the shoe will be forced againstsaid inner shell-surface by Huid pressure acting between the shoe and the blade as well as by centrifugal force.

5. A rotary pump, comprising a cylindrical shell, a rotor body mounted eccentrically in said shell and having a plurality of pairs of diametrically opposite longitudinal slots in its surface, blades mounted in said slots for radial sliding therein, opposite blades having means for holding them at least a pedetermined distance apart, said blades ing provided with longitudinal grooves in their outer edges, wearing shoes pivotally mounted on the outer edges of said blades in said groves, said wearing shoes being bodily separable from their associated groove surfaces and circumferentially shiftable relatively thereto to maintain partial contact, and the shape of the inner surface of said cylindrical shell being such that the distance between the lines where a diametralplane of the rotor intersects said inner shell-surface is at least at times in the rotor rotation greater than the distance between the outer surfaces of two opposite wearing shoes when said opposite wearing shoes and the parts interposed between them are in full seating contact, so that at least at such times in the rotor rotation a wearing shoe will be separated from and circumferentially shifted on its seat in its associated bladegroove and pushed outward against the inner shell surface by the action of fluid pressure between it and the associated bladegroove as well as by centrifuga-l force.

Intwitness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 3rd day of February, A.` D. one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two.

JOHN W. GURLEY. 

